Competition's not the issue: Performers happy to shine in the limelight

Wednesday

Aug 27, 2014 at 5:30 PM

Tony SauroRecord Staff Writer

There’ll be no melodramatic — TV-style — gnashing and wailing by San Joaquin County’s young musicians. Win or “lose.”

“With my groups, from the start, we tell them they should support each other,” said Gordon Kennedy of the communal competitiveness he encourages in his teenage music students. “It’s very much like a family.

“They’re just happy, no matter what happens. They’re very gracious. Yeah, we do that a lot.”

Zephyr, a six-member group from Lathrop, and Manteca’s Timeframe, a horn-powered band with 11 musicians that Kennedy directs, are two of three finalists in Friday and Saturday’s Valley’s Got Talent at Modesto’s Gallo Center, They’re both from Gordon Kennedy Music.

Warren Weismann, 16, is a member of both groups.

“Oh, man it’s a struggle,” said Weismann, a multi-instrumentalist who plays saxophone in Timeframe and Zephyr. “It’s bittersweet. It’s just all about playing for fun at the Gallo Center. It’s a rare opportunity.

“They seem to be really supportive. I’m really excited more than anything else.”

They’ll be pleased no matter who wins.

Zephyr and Timeframe play off against Stealin’ the Beat, a steel-drum band from Oakdale High School. Zephyr plays “Little Lyin’ Man” by England’s Mumford & Sons and Timeframe performs “Corazon Espinado” by Marin County’s Carlos Santana.

It’s the same for Ryan Price, a singer-songwriter from Manteca.

“If they like it, great,” said Price, 27, whose band, Melydian, finished second to his friend’s Josh Rosenbloom Band at 2013’s Valley’s Got Talent. “It’s like giving a speech. It’s how they feel and how you felt. If I win, great. I’m not in this to win. I don’t look at it as a competition. I look at it as something we all worked hard on.”

This year, that’s 50 entrants between 14 and 61 participating in five categories — 14 as vocalists. Audience members vote on Friday and a group of judges decides the winners Saturday.

“The experience has been amazing,” said Rikki Weismann, 48, Warren’s mother who’s helped manage the group for seven years. “It’s been an amazing journey. With kids and parents involved, it almost becomes one big family.

“When you’re watching them succeed and watching them on stage and seeing how happy it makes them, that’s beyond words. It’s a lot better than them hanging out on the streets or hanging with bad kids.”

Acts from Gordon Kennedy Music, opened in 2009, haven’t participated in Valley’s Got Talent during the contest’s identical five years.

“It’s something we haven’t really pursued,” said Kennedy, whose Manteca school has been open since 2009. “A couple of our teachers mentioned going. We’ve gotten a lot of awards. That’s just reinforced their hard-working achievements. It’s yet another goal. We see this is as a step.”

So does Price, a guitarist and Oakdale High School graduate who studied music at Modesto Junior College. He’s also a juggler and teacher at Manteca’s Legend Music store.

He’ll perform “Awaiting,” an original acoustic song about “family issues.” Co-finalist Daniel Davis, a 16-year-old pianist, attends Oakdale High. Jelani Brown, 23, a violinist from Patterson, is the other instrumental-category finalist.

Like Weismann, Price is a multi-instrumentalist who’s “really into composing” and hopes to learn from this experience.

“I’ve always loved playing with a band,” Price said. “I usually get really nervous playing solo. I’m doing this to kind of overcome something for myself. Also to get my music out. I write music like crazy. I wanna share my music with others.”

That includes “Awaiting”: “There were just kind of a lot of things going on with my family. I decided to just play whatever I felt. I wrote it in one sitting.”

Price, who originally wanted to be a drummer and learned bass from a Red Hot Chili Peppers recording, has mastered classical and jazz guitar, orchestral music, piano, mandolin banjo, “anything with strings.”

It’s the same with Weismann, a senior at Lathrop High School who’d like to study music at the College of the Arts in Sydney, Australia. In addition to saxophone, he plays keyboards, trumpet, piano, drums, guitar and composes.

“I can take any music and transpose it to each instrument,” he said,

Weismann recalled the emotional challenges of 2013’s Hayward Battle of the Bands. Timeframe won. Zephyr “didn’t even place.” No problem.

He and Price will concentrate on the music — not the competition, however amicable — during Valley’s Got Talent.